May 29, 2014

#RedskinsPride campaign backfires

By Erik Brady and Nina MandellLast week half of the U.S. Senate sent letters to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell castigating the team name of the league’s Washington club as a racial slur.

On Thursday, the team sent a request to fans to tell Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D – Nev.) “to show your #RedskinsPride and tell him what the team means to you.”

What happened next may have been an obvious reaction to anyone who has been following the controversy, but likely not what the Redskins were hoping for. Rather than tweeting their support, fans—and likely those who aren’t—tweeted their outrage over the name and the team’s continued commitment to keeping it.

“Twitter, and social media in general, is a wonderful medium because it gives voice to so many people,” Faiz Shakir, Reid’s digital director wrote to USA TODAY Sports in an email. “What we saw in the immediate aftermath of the tweet was a collective, overwhelming outpouring that was heavily critical of the Washington football team. It was an utter failure for them, and I hope it causes the organization to reflect on why that occurred.”Washington fumble #RedskinsPride campaign as racism row intensifies

By Barry PetcheskyWe weren't going to do this, we swear. We figured there was no need for a Twitter roundup when it was immediately clear to everyone that the Redskins' latest PR move, an attempt to galvanize fans into flooding Sen. Harry Reid with support for the team name, was backfiring wildly. Then we heard from Reid's office. Even they were surprised it "was so massively a failure."

"The Skins tried to engage folks, and it has failed miserably," Faiz Shakir, Reid's digital director, told us. In the minutes after the Skins' tweet, Shakir said "we haven't found more than one or two that are actually supportive."Harry Reid’s office says #RedskinsPride ‘made our day’

By Erik BradyIntermediaries for the Washington NFL team called the leader of a small Nevada tribe Thursday and asked him to come to the Washington region for a news media event with owner Daniel Snyder on Monday, according to the National Congress of American Indians.

Chairman Joseph Holley of the Battle Mountain Band of Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians told NCAI he declined.

Team spokesman Tony Wyllie told USA TODAY Sports that Snyder was out of the country this week and next and there was not another team media event until Wednesday. He did not say if that event would include tribal leaders.

"Someone working for the team called me out of the blue to invite me to a meeting in D.C. with the team and its owners and wanted to know what I thought of the team name," Holley said in an NCAI statement released to USA TODAY Sports. "They did not tell me what the meeting was about, what I would be doing or who else was invited and wanted my answer in just a few hours. My answer was no. I've got responsibilities to my community and members here at home and can't be running off to D.C. at a moment's notice to meet with a football team to do who knows what."And:Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the tribal leader the team apparently tried to recruit Thursday is from Reid's home state.Meanwhile, people continue to speak out against the ethnic slur:

By Dan SteinbergMark Schlereth became the latest former Redskins star to come out against the team’s name over the weekend, telling ABC’s ‘This Week’ that “it is time to change the name.”

“There’s no question, if you research the history of that name, it’s a pejorative term and it needs to change,” said Schlereth, a former Pro Bowler who played in Washington from 1989 to 1994 before moving on to Denver and then to a career in broadcasting. “I mean, you would never go into a conference of Native American people and walk up in front of them and refer to them as Redskins. It is a derogatory term, that’s its origins, and it is time to be a leader, from the standpoint of the NFL. High school across America have changed their names. The NCAA has implemented policy to change those names. Why has the NFL shuffled its feet on this? I don’t know, but it’s time to change.”NFLPA’s DeMaurice Smith says Redskins name conveys ‘racial insensitivity’

By Mark MaskeDeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, said Thursday that the team name of the Washington Redskins conveys “racial insensitivity.”

Smith, in a written statement issued to The Washington Post by the players’ union in response to a letter sent by Native American groups to all NFL players asking them to support a name change by the team, stopped short of pledging any direct action by players or the union, saying his conversations on the matter with the Redskins and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should remain private.

“I have conveyed my thoughts on this issue both to Roger and to the team,” Smith said. “They understand our position and I believe that those conversations are most effective when they can remain private. As I have stated publicly, though, I do not believe anyone should inflict pain, embarrass or insult, especially given the racial insensitivity of the term ‘Redskin.’ As you know, I grew up here and like all Washingtonians I became a fan of this team. The beauty of sports and of the Washington football franchise is that it will always have the ability to bring this community together, regardless of what decision is made about the team name.”Comment: For more on the Washington Redskins, see Letter Sent to NFL Players re "Redskins" and Critics Slam Redskins Letter.

The habitually inept public relations department of the Washington Redskins launched yet another flop of a campaign yesterday, and the Twitter debacle that ensued will likely be taught in schools in the years to come.